Wii U review: Fast Racing Neo

In an era where futuristic arcade racers like F-Zero and Hydro Thunder have largely disappeared, Fast Racing Neo seeks to reignite that spark of wonder and excitement these titles of yesteryear once offered. At first glance, Fast Racing Neo might look like a direct F-Zero successor under a different name and from a different developer. The game boasts a dozen hover racing vehicles, tracks vary from desert domains to space stations, slick ice-capped mountains, mining facilities connected by giant tubes, and jungle vistas with ninety degree inclines.

Each of these vehicles handles a bit different from the next. Some are quick on acceleration, but have lower top speeds, and vice versa. Some handle sharp turns on a dime, while others have longer and heavier frames that force a larger turn radius. But each vehicle is capable of blazing through gorgeous environments at incredible speeds, all without dropping the framerate below a perfect sixty frames per second. It’s a bit of a shame that the vehicles can not be given alternate color schemes, but their names and designs do well to pay homage to the era of gaming that inspired them.

Track layouts similarly feel the part of F-Zero GX’s offerings, and are, in some cases, even more challenging when attempted at the higher speed settings. Not unlike Mario Kart, the Subsonic, Supersonic, and Hypersonic ‘difficulties’ have less of an impact on the capabilities of the opponent racers’ A.I., but rather increase the speed at which everyone zips along the track. Fast Racing Neo avoids a ‘rubber-band’ catch-up system, so there are rarely rival racers that follow closely behind you for the four tracks within any single cup. This of course also means that you as a player still need to shoot for the front of the pack, as the overall rankings are less predictable than in other arcade racers.

Fast Racing Neo controls with buttery-smooth precision, though as mentioned, no two vehicles control in quite the same fashion, so it may take a few runs to get the feel for which vehicle is best suited to your personal play style. Similarly, each course dishes out something new as you progress, and the best way to beat the competition is learning a track’s ins and outs through a trial-by-fire approach. Fast Racing Neo, oddly enough, also gives a nod or two to Ikaruga and other shoot-‘em-up games, with the incorporation of a color-shift system. Certain boost and jump pads are blue, others orange, and you must shift between the two on the fly to make the most of these. Jewels scattered across the track, meanwhile, will fill up your boost gauge, which you can then utilize whenever you so choose.

In the event that you crash while attempting a jump, the game quickly respawns you at the section of the race track closest to where your machine exploded. You are granted a small amount of boost to try and catch back up with the competition. An unlockable Hero Mode ups the difficulty even further, as it demands players manage their boost meter as a shield meter as well (not unlike the F-Zero series), as well as finish in first place to further progress. It’s a bonus mode for the most determined of players, those who haved proved their skill by completing all of the previous difficult settings.

Fast Racing Neo does include online play, wherein players vote from a limited selection of courses. Their vote is then cast into a pool with the votes from each of the other players, and selected roulette-style, not unlike Mario Kart Wii’s online selection process. However, there is currently no way to vote for the difficulty/speed setting, and the game appears to default to the lower end of that. Despite rather bare-bones menus, the game makes up for this with vehicles and courses being covered in gorgeous, shiny visuals, making Fast Racing Neo one of the best looking titles on any console this generation yet. The techno soundtrack is a great, adrenaline-pumping match to the game’s sci-fi setting, and further cements Fast Racing Neo as a worthy successor to a genre that has largely fallen into obscurity.

My rating: 9 (out of 10)

Wii U review: Splatoon

Each time you boot up Splatoon, the celebrity Squid Sisters of the game’s fictional realm will list off the maps currently in rotation for both ranked and unranked playlists, capping their announcement with warm wishes that every inkling girl and boy “stay fresh!” And that is exactly what Splatoon brings to the table – a fresh hybrid of third-person shooter combat, sandwiching platform and action elements between its other major design point of painting the stage in neon ink colors. At its core, Splatoon is a team-oriented shooter where the objective is not so much offing enemy team members, rather attempting to cover as much of the map as possible in your team’s respective color. With perhaps a slight hint of Super Mario Sunshine playing into Splatoon’s inspiration, and certainly more than a small dose of Jet Set Radio, this spunky, upbeat I.P. is a welcome addition to the Wii U, as well as to the online gaming community for the way it manages to shake up so many staples of the shooter genre with simple tweaks.

The novelty of all this, of course, would wear thin rather quickly if the game suffered from lag or connection issues. While this was certainly a fully merited concern prior to the game’s release given Nintendo’s often less-than-stellar performance of online components of Wii titles like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Splatoon has – against all expectations – the best connection record of any multiplayer online game I’ve ever managed to get my hands on. The two or three times I encountered any form of lag were during the first weeks following Splatoon’s launch, and they were marginal, at worst, lasting only a brief few seconds. Occasionally, the game will be unable to connect to matches during server maintenance periods, but these roadblocks are short-lived and only to be expected. And the frequency with which new, free content such as additional maps, weapons, and game modes are trickled into the mix is more than sufficient compensation for these segments of downtime.

Painting the town orange or purple or lime green or whatever your team’s assigned color is remains a constant across the entire experience, though ranked matches do introduce both ‘king of the hill’ and ‘capture the flag’ variants in the forms of Splatzones and Tower Control, with more game modes on the way. Single player has players navigate short but increasingly creative and visually appealing stages as they battle enemy Octolings in order to rescue captured cute and yellow Zapfish. This story mode does not boast the most complex narrative, nor does it last more than a few hours, but the sheer variety of environment designs, thoughtful strategies regarding boss battles, and overall fun factor make it worth diving into. A one-on-one local multiplayer mode is also included, wherein players compete to pop balloons for the most points, but is significantly less meaty and also less enjoyable than the other main modes.

Splatoon does have a couple of significant drawbacks, however. The single player mode, while short and sweet, offers up blueprints for new weapons for those who do a little bit of exploration. The Amiibo functionality for this game works the same way, offering remixed versions of select single player stages with different weapons loadouts, and rewarding players with some of the game’s coolest costumes as well as a couple of extra armament options. However, if you did not purchase these Splatoon Amiibo, you are fresh out of luck, unless Nintendo decides to release these as paid DLC items in the future.

The other big hit against this original I.P. is the fact that, within any given multiplayer playlist, there are only two maps in rotation at any given time. Matches are fast, lasting only three minutes each, and you’ll see a lot of the same environments in rapid succession. Throwing a couple more maps in rotation at a time would have circumvented this issue entirely, though the game does switch up the maps that are in rotation quite frequently, which slightly eases the blandness of being dropped into Blackbelly Skatepark six times in a row.

While Splatoon may not boast an abundance of multiplayer maps, the selection it does offer includes design variations that are greatly appreciated, and work well with the different game modes. The rises and dips of Blackbelly Skatepark provide a reasonably sized outer ring for players to quickly propel through in squid form before taking to two legs and entering the firefight-focused center. The Kelp Dome is one of the game’s larger maps, and allows for players to shoot down from a catwalk on opponents below, albeit at the risk of being more greatly exposed to return fire. Port Mackerel and Arowana Mall provide more traditional symmetrical settings, while the winding ramps and square arena of Saltspray Rig host matches that can drastically shift at a moment’s notice.

Unranked matches will net you experience points regardless of whether you win or lose, while ranked matches only reward experience points to winners and subsequently move your letter ranking up or down based on performance. Leveling up grants you access to new weapons or variants of previous ones with alternate stats and loadouts. Much like the game’s clothing items, these weapons cost experience points to claim as your own.

However wildly different two weapons might be, they will always offer pros and cons, so as to keep the entire experience balanced. As a result, the weapons players choose are bound to be the ones they enjoy and are most confident with. While the roller covers a large area, it has minimal range, and is generally ill-suited for fighting other players. The brush splatters paint rapidly from side to side, but handles in an unusual manner, and drains ink rather quickly. Likewise, building up your charge meter to unleash brief but very powerful and broad range of the Killer Wail plays to a much different audience than the timed free-roam invincibility of the Kraken.

Clothing items grant you bonuses such as the ability to conserve ink, a slightly improved buffer when under enemy fire, faster respawn times, and so forth. These are attributed at random upon earning a set amount of experience points while donning a particular shirt, hat, or pair of shoes in battle. These skills do not carry over from one article of clothing to another, however, the sea snails that are earned as rewards for participating in Splatfests – Splatoon’s poll-based tournaments in which Team Cat is pitted against Team Dog, Team Marshmallow against Team Hot Dog, and so forth – can be exchanged for extra skill slots, or to re-roll slots on pieces of clothing which already have these slots filled up.

Gibberish inkling vocals add a further level of depth to the wonderfully-crafted soundtrack. The game’s musical offerings draw inspiration from electropop, J-pop, punk, and even rock sounds that border on the thrash range. Combine this with the spunky and colorful character models, and a nautical reimagining of Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing as the hubworld menu, and you have a recipe for a truly unique and endearing property. Splatoon is a sensory bombardment at every turn, but never to an overwhelming degree. Above all else, Splatoon is exceptionally weird, fun for players of all skill levels, and a welcome break from the familiar.

My rating: 8.75 (out of 10)

DLC review: Mario Kart 8 - Animal Crossing X Mario Kart 8

The second DLC pack for Mario Kart 8 has arrived, bringing with it eight new courses spread across two Grand Prix cups, three new racers, and a handful of new vehicle customization options. Following in the footsteps of the first DLC pack, this latest offering sees the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom open up their roster to accommodate for the Villagers and Isabelle from Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The majority of the vehicle options are similarly reflective of the Animal Crossing image, while the skeletal Dry Bowser is an outlier – a reskin of the Koopa king that presents more creativity in aesthetic appeal than the previously-released Tanooki Mario or Cat Suit Peach did.

And while all of these are fine additions to Mario Kart 8, the real meat of the DLC pack comes from the race tracks themselves. Half of the courses are reimaginings of courses that debuted in previous Mario Kart titles, while the other half are brand new. Two of the reimagined courses have Gameboy Advance origins, and boast the most obvious updates, both in terms of visual prowess and dynamic layout. As has been the case from the day of its release, Mario Kart 8 remains one of the most visually gorgeous games of this eighth console generation, and the pure variety of environments within this DLC pack continue that trend. From a massive playroom where your kart appears to be a shrunken toy, to graffiti-covered subway tunnels, to the winding breakneck turns of the hyper-futuristic Big Blue, there are plenty of impressive little details to take in.

Distinct about the Animal Crossing X Mario Kart 8 pack is the overall more consistent length and quality of the eight tracks when compared to its Legend of Zelda-themed predecessor. Nearly every course makes use of multiple vehicle transformations, something that, once again, could not be said about almost half of the courses within the first DLC pack. The drawback, however, is the fact that there are fewer standout tracks from this latest batch. The Animal Crossing course is relatively straightforward in design, and while the changing of seasons is a neat afterthought, its environmental hazards and visual 'wow-factor' pale in comparison to Hyrule Circuit. With that said, this is still a solid DLC pack that provides quite a lot of bang for your buck. The courses each offer decent degrees of challenge, and revisiting them can drastically improve your finishing time.

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10)*

*(rating applies solely to downloadable content, not its inclusion with the content on the original game disc or other downloadable content)

Wii U review: NES Remix

The premise of NES Remix is simple enough – the objectives of classics like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Excitebike, Balloon Fight and more are revisited with slight twists. The earliest challenges for each game are little more than tutorials, and while perhaps some younger gamers may not be so intimately familiar with the NES era of gaming, the controls of each of these titles are both simple and intuitive that it makes these early entries seem unnecessary. Leading Link into a dungeon, having Mario jump over a couple of barrels, or even leading the Excitebike rider up a ramp hardly seem worth congratulating players for.

They are also a stark contrast to the often faster-paced and less forgiving challenges unlocked by achieving a certain number of stars - the game's ranking system, which are in themselves dependent on the speed each challenge is successfully completed with. This results in NES Remix’s greatest flaw – the lack of a staggering of difficulties. Either you play laughably easy scenarios, or you take on thoroughly challenging ones, the latter of which are split about fifty-fifty between demanding precise twitch timing or offering a more fair test of a player’s skills. These later stages incorporate more interesting concepts, like platforms that fade in and out of visibility or having Link climb the ladders and ramps of Donkey Kong. They also sometimes fail to convey proper objectives to players, which (understandably) may only further feelings of frustration.

There is plenty of variety in the play styles of games offered, from the platforming antics of Mario and his brother Luigi, to the hammering and lunges of the Ice Climbers, to exploring the fields of Hyrule with Link’s medieval arsenal, and even blowing up concrete walls in Wrecking Crew. NES Remix is inadvertently a display of which NES titles aged the best, with some games offering as tight of controls as they did during their heyday, while others fall short of the glory they were once touted for. Some of these games see ten or fewer challenges, yet others are in for the long-haul, pushing further into the double-digits.

There is no single ‘correct’ way to go about unlocking the many challenges of NES Remix. Often, even a valiant, yet unsuccessful attempt at a stage will result in the next one being unlocked, and reaching certain milestones in your star collection or overall numerical score will unlock new titles altogether. Miiverse stamps can also be earned by reaching these milestones, each depicting 8-bit versions of characters and enemies from the slew of titles represented in NES Remix. It’s not that NES Remix lacks replayability – far from it – it’s just that the stages offered are so inconsistent in both their degree of challenge and fun factor. A greater sense of adventure in crossing over these characters and environments might have also benefited the final product.

My rating: 5 (out of 10)

Wii U review: Bayonetta

Originally released in 2009 on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3, the first game in the Bayonetta saga saw an updated release on the Wii U, one that was bundled with the Nintendo console-exclusive Bayonetta 2. The premise is easy enough to jump into – the witch known as Bayonetta works with two individuals to fight aggressive angels: an arms dealer named Rodin and one business associate named Enzo. Whereas Rodin is cool, tough, and smooth with both words and weapons, Enzo is excessively foul-mouthed, and seems to have a knack for getting himself in way over his head. Bayonetta, meanwhile, has an air of sass and confidence about her, as she knows she is one of the only magic-wielders of her kind, boasting a widely varied skill set and impressive power to boot. And yet, Bayonetta knows very little about her own history, which leads to this first entry in the story to be one of self-discovery, with cutscenes frequently jumping back in time to explain, bit-by-bit, just what happened five-hundred years prior to the game’s present day setting.

Over the course of her adventures across a fictional European vista, Bayonetta visits a number of locales, from old brick-street cities, to an ancient coliseum, to impossible spirals of land that wind up in to the sky only to meet other high-rise bridges of dirt and grass some miles above the Earth. Later chapters will even see Bayonetta enter ethereal realms of mist and golden décor as she take the fight to the angels’ home turf. And while most of the game’s grand reveals are saved for the late chapters, it is apparent from the outset that other players in this larger picture are keeping their eyes on Bayonetta. Though it may not match the astounding visual quality of its sequel, the slight update seen in this Wii U port is certainly cleaner than its Xbox 360 and PS3 counterparts. Similarly, new features have been added, perhaps the most noteworthy of the bunch being costumes that pay homage to the heroines of Nintendo’s Metroid and Mario properties, as well as Link’s tunic from The Legend of Zelda.

That said, the Gamepad is not emphasized as heavily in this first Bayonetta title as it is in Bayonetta 2. The basic controls for running through environments, chaining combos while slicing and dicing the grotesque angelic hordes, and the menu-based process of mixing ingredients for stat-recovering and stat-boosting lollipops all fell very natural with the traditional button and joystick combo. Boss encounters with the most massive of stone-and-gold goliaths are consistently exceptional, even with the occasional decision to include gimmicky uses the immediate environment. Similarly, the sequential rival battles with mysterious crimson-clad witch Jeanne prove among the most engaging and enjoyable moments of the overall experience, and these are spaced out so as to not grow so quickly tiresome as other interruptions to the familiar routine of the story and gameplay, such as a clunky motorcycle chase with unclear objectives or the minimally-inspired arcade shooting minigame that caps off each chapter.

Combat utilizes a time-slowing mechanic known as Witch Time, whereby a perfect last-minute dodge will result in enemies coming to a near-standstill and Bayonetta being granted a brief window to deal significant damage to foes. If a magic meter is full from delivering a strong chain of attacks, players can employ medieval torture devices to inflict massive damage upon foes. The magic meter, however, can be whittled back down if Bayonetta takes damage, effectively nullifying everything built up from combos. This makes this first title simultaneously more demanding and less forgiving than its successor, which in and of itself is not so much a problem, but rather plays into the game’s two major flaws: poor camera angles, and claustrophobic environments. Bayonetta gradually throws harder enemies at the titular witch, and in greater numbers, which only makes sense as a means for amping up the difficulty factor for players, but the fact that the combat arenas never grow presents a significant problem in trying to see where Bayonetta is versus the location of her enemies. This in turn forces strategy out the window during these particularly troublesome segments, leaving players to guesswork in their dodges and attacks. It’s not an issue that runs for the entire course of any given level, but instead pops up at sporadic intervals, making it all the more frustrating as a significant flaw in an otherwise solidly-designed game.

The lore of the world is delivered largely through Luka, a young man with dreams of following in his father’s footsteps as journalist and historian. Luka holds Bayonetta responsible for the death of his father upon her return to the land of the living many years ago, though a part of him is constantly drawn to her – in part, because of her mysterious nature, and the other part due to his finding her physically attractive. Shallow as he might be, Luka plays the part of comic relief a number of times over the course of the game, as Bayonetta leaves him to clean up after her messes and place him in charge of taking care of tasks she would rather not.

The angel designs are nowhere near as visually captivating as their successors in Bayonetta 2, though boss designs such as a plant-like form with many tentacles and a giant lizard-like beast with a gaping maw offer commanding aesthetics. There is a certain creepy and alien appeal in the bird-human hybrids of the common grunt enemies, while gold-trimmed boats that fire a barrage of missiles and flying snake-like beasts offer more in the way of silly visual appeal than they do for practical combat situations. The soundtrack emphasizes choir vocals for more dire moments, and jazzy numbers for when the game wants to let loose and allow Bayonetta a minute to properly flaunt her unique skill set.

Bayonetta is still an impressive showing for the action genre, and does well to base its combo chaining system around a fair dodge mechanic. Unfortunately, this is far too often nixed by poor choices in the placement of enemies in narrow hallways and compact rooms, or downright awful camera angles. It’s a step up in both more fluid design and more user-friendly design points than previous giants of the genre, yet it falls a fair distance from the sequel’s borderline-perfect design. If nothing else, this version of Bayonetta is easily the best in terms of its visual presentation, and the button layout on both the Wii U Gamepad and Pro Controller are perfect fits for the game’s demanding combat patterns.

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10)

Wii U review: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD

A decade after its original Gamecube release, The Legend of Zelda title that introduced the cel-shaded Toon Link and the Great Sea he sailed across received an HD remake on Nintendo’s Wii U. During the years between the original Wind Waker and this new Wind Waker HD, it was expressed that there were a number of features that the development staff wanted to work into the original release, but were unable to due primarily to technological restrictions they faced in 2003. Wind Waker HD promised to be more than a simple visual upgrade of the original Gamecube adventure, and ultimately incorporated a number of reworked gameplay features, as well as a few new additions.

While many remakes in recent years have seen significant visual jumps in their quality (i.e. – Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Final Fantasy IV DS, etc.), Wind Waker HD’s strongest graphical showings come from its improved lighting effects and more strikingly visible environment textures. Character models and the various locales across the Great Sea appear largely unchanged from the Gamecube original, due in no small part to the fact that cel-shaded graphics were far ahead of their time, and have since aged significantly better than the visuals of nearly every other game in the long-running series. The soundtrack, however, has been cleaned up a bit, and a few subtle variations on classic tunes have been thrown into the mix.

For those who missed out on the Wind Waker during its original 2003 release, the story is set hundreds of years after the events of Ocarina of Time. The intro sequence explains that, even though OoT's Link was able to save Hyrule from Ganondorf’s evil conquest once, after he had returned to his own time there was no one to stop the Gerudo King once he escaped his imprisonment in the Sacred Realm. In a last-ditch effort to save the people of Hyrule, the goddesses washed away the kingdom, sending the people to live on the islands that now marked the Great Sea. As centuries passed, those who knew the legends of Hyrule dwindled in numbers, though on Link’s birthday, he receives a green Tunic from his grandmother, which she cites as being associated with the hero of legend, and a tradition for boys to wear on his home of Outset Island.

Not long after, a giant bird carrying the pirate captain Tetra flies over Outset Island, only to be struck by a cannonball from Tetra’s pursuing crew members. The bird drops Tetra in the forest atop the island, and Link decides to go help at the insistence of his younger sister Aryll. After scaling the island and fighting a few monsters, Link rescues Tetra and the two exit the forest only to witness young Aryll be whisked away by the giant bird from before, who mistook Aryll for Tetra. Determined to save his sister, Link acquires a shield and sword and climbs aboard Tetra’s ship as they head for the Forsaken Fortress.

Once inside, Link manages to sneak past Moblin patrols and is reunited with his sister, who is being held captive with two other young girls in a prison cell atop the Forsaken Fortress. However, this victory is short-lived, as the giant bird swoops in and tosses Link to the ocean, at the command of its shadowy master. The next morning, Link awakes to find he has been rescued by a talking sailboat which calls itself the King of Red Lions. He informs Link that the master of the Forsaken Fortress and the one who has been spreading monsters across the Great Sea is none other than Ganondorf, and that Link must gather three pearls in order to access a greater power capable of stopping Ganondorf’s schemes.

Mechanically, Wind Waker built directly off its N64 predecessors Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. The titular Wind Waker, which is used to control the direction of the wind that steers your sailboat, as well as a few other key interactions, effectively stood in for the previous musical instrument, the Ocarina of Time. Combat followed suit, with carefully timed strikes being coordinated with the trigger-based targeting system. The set of items Link collected from the various dungeons are still implemented with great frequency in later legs of The Wind Waker, often used in tandem with other items or weapons to overcome more challenging and complicated hurdles. While the core of this experience may remain largely the same, it is largely to the game’s benefit, as Wind Waker HD doesn’t need to fix what isn’t broken. That said, the optional gyroscope controls are available for the Telescope and Picto Box, should players feel so inclined to explore these additions, though the classic joystick controls are generally more smooth and precise.

Little changes to some of the items and questlines in Wind Waker HD end up going a long way. When sailing across the Great Sea, the Cannon, Crane, and Wind Waker are automatically set to the D-pad, while the Sail is set to the A button, allowing you to set another three separate items to the X, Y, and R buttons respectively. This cuts down on the amount of time spent swapping from the inventory. On a related note, the Gamepad’s touch controls allow you to drag items to these three buttons on the fly, without needing to pause the game first. Those who recall the Tingle Tuner from the Gamecube version will find it has been replaced with a more practical counterpart in the form of Tingle Bottles, which can carry messages into other player’s games via Miiverse, offering a more community-oriented experience not unlike the hints players can leave for one another in Dark Souls.

For completionists who enjoyed snapping pictographs of friendly faces and Ganondorf’s loyal monsters during their journey to turn into sculpted figurines at the Nintendo Gallery, the number of open slots in the Picto Box has been bumped up to twelve, as has the number of figurines that can be crafted each day. Enemy spoil drops appear to have been improved as well, making sidequests dependent on the number of Skull Necklaces, Butterfly Pendants, or Golden Feathers in your possession much quicker to complete. A speedier sail is available around the game’s midway point, and the process of collecting Triforce pieces during the late hours has been cut in half, thanks to the majority of the chart locations being replaced with the actual Triforce shards themselves. This not only makes collecting the Triforce shards feel like less of a chore than in the original Gamecube version, it circumvents the severe hiccup in the story’s pacing that comes as a result from suddenly needing to divert all of your attention from the buildup toward the late-game challenges and subsequent intense progression of the story.

If you have never experienced this particular Legend of Zelda title before, the HD update is a fantastic option. It’s also perhaps one of the most easily-accessible Zelda titles out there, for those who may have only experienced a scant few games in the series – not to say that The Wind Waker is an overly easy experience, but it does provide more intuitive controls and in-depth tutorials that stack as the game gradually offers up new options for improving combat and puzzle strategies. While the visuals may not be a vast improvement over the Gamecube original, they still hold up strong today, and offer a very distinct style that matches the sense of wonder in this fantasy setting, as well as the coming-of-age direction that the story takes with its younger protagonist.

My rating: 8.5 (out of 10)

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD journal - entry three

When I first played Wind Waker, I was in middle school and had no qualms about sinking hours into the tedious process of collecting three pictographs at a time, bringing them to the Forest Haven’s Nintendo Gallery, and then fast-forwarding time via the Song of Passing to have them converted into sculpted figures one by one. While Wind Waker lacks as many real meaty sidequests as its home console predecessor Majora’s Mask offered up, the more involved sidequests that Wind Waker does have are just that – very involved, and by association, rather time-consuming. I am incredibly pleased to see that Nintendo has not only quadrupled the number of pictographs Link can store in his Picto Box at any given time, but also upped the ante on the number of figures that can be sculpted per day to a matching twelve. To some, the Nintendo Gallery might seem like a silly distraction, but I always found it to be one of the most entertaining and rewarding sidequests in Wind Waker.

Conversely, my single least favorite leg of the original Wind Waker adventure was the process of collecting all the Triforce charts, having them deciphered for an obscene sum of money, and then having to track down each Triforce shard thereafter. It was such a boring routine that really threw off the game’s pacing, especially after the revelation of Tetra being the heir to Princess Zelda’s bloodline and the search for the two new sages had significantly boosted the excitement and intensity of the narrative. Lo and behold, Nintendo also improved upon this by asking players to seek out a mere three Triforce charts, while many of the remaining Triforce Shards have been allocated to the treasure chests that previously housed their respective charts. Those few Triforce shards that still lie at the bottom of the sea are immediately visible on Tingle’s In-credible chart. This particular fetch quest feels much less a chore, as it requires approximately half the time and effort than in the original Gamecube version.

I would not say that I am quite as blown away by this updated version of Wind Waker as I was by Ocarina of Time 3D – as I previously mentioned, the character models and environments of Wind Waker HD look largely the same as before, save for better lighting and a clearer filter for the game’s presentation. Plus, even though it is two console generations removed, this HD remaster is still on a home console as opposed to a handheld. But it is certainly flying higher than I anticipated during my first journal post. As of a few hours ago, I started my dive into the Wind Temple, and as such, I would expect my review of Wind Waker HD to be posted sometime by the end of next week, as there isn’t a whole lot left ahead of me before I take on Ganondorf and finish this adventure… once again.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD journal - entry two

Perhaps my initial judgments toward Wind Waker HD were premature. Now that I’m getting deeper into the story, I’m finding there are plenty of little updates that go a long way. I am a tad surprised that there does not appear to be any use of the stylus for scribbling notes on the sea chart ala Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks (or at least, there is no such functionality that I have yet come across). However, including the little tidbits of information the fish-men provide Link with their respective island chartings is a convenient addition for anyone who is new to the Wind Waker experience, or who is taking on this adventure many years after they originally tackled it on the Gamecube. After all, many of these hints or pieces of advice pertain to quests later in the game, like the Ghost Ship, the items required to enter the Earth and Wind Temples, and the Triforce Charts.

I’ve recently acquired the Swift Sail, which is far and away my favorite new item in this updated Zelda adventure. Not only does it make travelling to nearby islands a super-speedy process, but it easily cuts the time spent filling in the sea chart in half. The Tingle Bottles have proven entertaining, and I applaud those who have utilized them for more practical uses like aiding younger players who are stuck at a certain point in the game. That said, I’ve also found some of the messages within these Tingle Bottles quite amusing, whether the author of the related posts meant for their work to be humorous or not.

While I still feel that this HD version is not the visual spectacle other HD updates in recent years have shown themselves to be, there is something to be said about the finer details of this Wii U update of Wind Waker. I’ve come across a number of textures that I never noticed in the original Gamecube version, such as the small Triforce shape inside the barrier beam emitters within the Tower of the Gods, and the shapes of the Hylian people praising the Master Sword within the chamber below Hyrule Castle. As I mentioned in my previous post, the single biggest visual improvement seems to have come in the form of the game’s lighting, and as I have recently witnessed, this is not simply from the sun or the torch fires – the pearls required to summon the Tower of the Gods from the watery abyss look absolutely gorgeous, as does the room wherein Link faces the dungeon’s boss Gohdan. Even the Beamos eyes look far less blurry than they did back in 2003.

Wind Waker HD may end up being one of my earliest reviews posted in 2015. I’ve spent the past couple of days dealing with some post-Christmas crud, and as much as I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of Persona Q thus far, playing through Wind Waker is a much easier task, especially since it is a game that I’ve beaten at least five times over now. My expectations of Wind Waker HD ranking among the greatest of all the games I play in 2015 are basically zero, but the aforementioned improvements that I have recently discovered have certainly earned it a few extra points toward its (eventual) overall review rating.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD journal - entry one

I received Wind Waker HD as a gift for purchasing Mario Kart 8 within its ‘early adopter’ window, and then subsequently set it aside for a rainy day. It’s not that I don’t like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, far from it – it’s my fifth favorite Zelda title, only tailing slightly behind Majora’s Mask, Skyward Sword, the Oracle titles, and Ocarina of Time (numbers four to one, in that order). But I did last replay Wind Waker about two years ago, and felt I should wait a while before tackling this remastered edition at the risk of my experience feeling too much of a mundane retread. That said, I am not certain if this will be one of my earlier reviews on 2015, or if I will tackle it in spurts and give priority to The Wonderful 101 and Watch Dogs.

The great thing about Wind Waker, at least for the sake of this replay and upcoming review, is that it has a relatively quick main storyline. I am, however, very much interested in seeing what all of the reworked gameplay elements are and how different their offerings are from the original Gamecube version. As of right now, I’ve just purchased the sail on Windfall Island, and I have a few key points I wanted to hit on.

First off, the graphics and art style are not as big of an improvement as I had expected. Wind Waker’s cel-shaded direction has led it to be, from a visual perspective at least, the Zelda title that has simply aged the best. The gameplay is a different beast entirely, but when Wind Waker HD was first announced, I thought it an exceptionally odd pick for that very reason. With the Wii U’s significantly improved graphical capabilities over its predecessor consoles, Majora’s Mask, even Twilight Princess could have received major facelifts while finding new and fun things to do with the Gamepad. But Wind Waker HD only has a few notable trumps over its Gamecube counterpart that I have come across thus far – the lighting is superb, and some of the environment textures have been cleaned up.

It’s far from enough to make me feel like this is a whole new spin on an old classic. The cel-shaded character models look almost exactly the same as they did back in 2003, and the blocky/angular portions of environments look outdated. I know they might keep well with the cartoony style of the game, but with the updates Nintendo did perform on this Zelda title, they look a bit out of place, as well as more so dated than most of the game’s other visual components.

Secondly, the few new mechanics I have come across are merely optional control schemes for pre-existing items, or replacements for tech that was effectively impossible to replicate on the Wii U (such as the Tingle Bottle replacing the GBA-connected Tingle Tuner). The gamepad’s gyroscope can be used to aim the telescope, and I would assume the Pictobox as well, though I couldn’t say for certain, as I turned the gyroscope’s finicky sensitivity off after my first use of the telescope. The touch screen can be used to slide items to the X, Y, and R buttons, but it doesn’t really save any significant time over the typical button and joystick combo of the old Gamecube controller. I appreciate the game being a gift, as prior to receiving it, I did not have any intent of purchasing Wind Waker HD, but now that I have it, I’m finding the majority of the updates underwhelming. That said, there is still plenty of game left ahead of me, so perhaps the Great Ocean still has some surprises in store.

Wii U review: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Boasting the same roster as its 3DS counterpart, the latest Super Smash Bros. has arrived on the Wii U, and sports the same frantic action coupled with a solid blend of the play styles of the previous two entries in Nintendo’s all-star fighting series. Plenty of familiar faces return, while a few have been cut from Brawl’s offerings, and a couple have been split into multiple characters – such is the case with Sheik, Zelda, Samus, and Zero Suit Samus, each of whom now have an extra move or two. The newcomers are some of the most bold and varied additions to the roster in the series’ history, with the Animal Crossing Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Pac-Man, Mega Man, Palutena, and Little Mac, joining the fray, among plenty more interesting additions.

While Smash played well on a handheld – better than most would have anticipated – it feels more at home on the Wii U. The Pro and Gamecube controllers evoke tight, smooth responses from each fighter, while the Gamepad and Wiimotes, despite having slightly less orthodox spacing and button layouts, fill their roles in similarly solid fashion. Stages and characters are generally easier to keep in focus in all their high-definition glory, though this can change drastically in some of utterly massive stages designed for the new 8-player Smash mode.

While the 3DS Smash Bros. offered up a solid variety of stages, the Wii U’s brand new arenas are better, by and large. The Kalos Pokémon League sets players on a medium area of ground with small variable platforms, and throws a few environmental hazards like fire, water, giant swords, and the occasional legendary Pokémon into the mix to keep players on their toes. The winding courses and mobile platform representing Mario Kart 8 are effectively a stand-in for F-Zero, whose only stage in this Wii U version is the tried-and-true Port Town Aero Dive from Brawl. Skyloft builds off the basics of Brawl’s Delfino Isle, albeit with many larger areas to set down in, while both Pilot Wings and Donkey Kong’s Jungle Hijinks offer simple yet refined design points.

While nearly every newcomer to this Smash Bros. has a stage to call their own, it is unfortunate that some of the series veterans get left out in the cold, so to speak. There is no new F-Zero stage beyond the 16-bit one exclusive to the 3DS version of Smash, and Kirby’s only two Wii U stages are the massive Great Cave Offensive, suitable only for frantic bouts of trying to keep sight of your own fighter in 8-player Smash, and the Halberd, which was easily one of the best stages to come of this game’s Wii predecessor. Each of the new stages does hold up solid with the quality and variety fans have come to expect from the Smash Bros. series, though.

The returning stages, on the other hand, are a bit of a mixed bag. Smashville, Kongo Jungle 64, and Port Town Aero Dive all play as wonderfully as they did during their respective debuts, while Donkey Kong’s 75m is obnoxious and poor in design. The claustrophobic setup of Luigi’s Mansion and bland emptiness of the Bridge of Eldin both make for strange choices as well, though Melee’s Hyrule Temple, which has long been an unnecessarily large stage, finally sees some more practical use, thanks to the inclusion of 8-player Smash matches.

With regards to 8-player Smash, certain stages were designed with this larger number of players in mind, like Sonic’s Windy Hill and an even larger version of the classic Battlefield stage, appropriately named Big Battlefield. Other stages are reserved for smaller numbers of players, and cannot be accessed for 8-player Smash. Online play proves generally more solid and connections more consistent than in the 3DS version, a welcome improvement that will hopefully only get better as time goes on.

The core experience of this latest Super Smash Bros. is a majorly impressive achievement for Sakurai and the rest of the creative team behind it, as it contains the most balanced roster of fighters since the original N64 version. Final Smashes, one of the most polarizing additions to Brawl, make a return, and have largely been retooled for the better. Characters with previously over-powered Final Smashes, like Pit and Ness, have been granted significantly toned-down replacements, while others have been swapped for more practical options, like Luigi’s vacuum cleaner and Zero Suit Samus firing upon foes from a safe distance inside her gunship. Others still have seen previously perfectly reasonable Final Smashes ditched in favor of still-plenty-effective and well-balanced moves that align more closely with some of their latest outings, such as Kirby’s giant sword he wielded in Return to Dreamland and Lucario’s Mega Evolution, parallel to Charizard’s own. It’s a far more intelligent showing for this mechanic that was previously able to tip the scales in matches so drastically that it almost certainly spelled one-hit K.O.s from particular characters.

Classic and All-Star modes both see a return, the latter being almost entirely unchanged from every Smash Bros. prior, a gauntlet run of matches against every other fighter on the roster, this time in reverse chronological order of their debut in the video game industry. Classic mode, meanwhile, sets the players’ chosen character trophy on a base that they can freely move about, and tackle different sets of opponents based on which fighters they will be up against, how many, which stage they will be duking it out on, and what sorts of rewards will be granted upon winning the fight. On top of these match-specific rewards, players can stop a roulette to earn further rewards, though losing two lives and being taken to the ‘continue’ screen will result in one or more of these rewards being taken away. The higher the difficulty setting, the better the rewards typically are, but also the more that will be taken away should players fail.

When selecting fights, players need to be mindful of their designated rival character, who is randomly selected at the start of each classic mode run. This rival will generally put up more of a fight than its CPU counterparts. Facing it early on can grant a sort of safety net, but yields less in the way of rewards, while waiting until the last possible minute to face off with it means a more challenging battle for a better haul. Occasionally, one of the CPUs will be kicked off the base by a more challenging foe who will take on either giant or metal form, which again, yields greater returns for players who best them in battle. Classic mode will, however, always cap off with a multi-man battle against a team of Mii fighters, and Master Hand/Crazy Hand/Master Core thereafter.

The Miis are the new representatives for all forms of Multi-Man Smash found in the additional Stadium content, including time-sensitive matches, 10 and 100-man matches, and two other modes that pit players against highly aggressive Mii fighters and throw a rival CPU into the mix respectively. Home Run Derby makes its return, largely unchanged from the last time around, while the new Target Blast mode combines the basic idea of launching an object ala Home Run Derby with the old Break the Targets mode. The object of Target Blast is to chain as many targets as possible from the bomb’s explosion radius and the environment objects that are launched as a result of it for a high score.

Event matches also make a comeback, some being locked early on due to their requiring use of bonus unlockable fighters. These matches play out in a manner not unfamiliar to veterans of Melee and Brawl, with silly scenarios made up for the sake of adding interesting rules into the mix. On the whole, these latest event matches are easier than in previous installments, with a few sprinkled throughout that will prove a test of patience through trial-and-error runs. Some event matches do lack clear instructions, however.

Filling in a similar spot as the 3DS version’s Smash Run, the board game setup of Smash Tour provides lightning-fast matches with rules that range from relatively normal to borderline-ludicrous. Players will move around the board, collecting extra fighters and power-ups as they go, and using trophy powers to set traps and shuffle their opponents around the board, or even grant themselves an edge in a fight, such as starting off with a particular weapon or shrinking one of their fellow players with a poison mushroom. The fighter players will use in each match is predetermined, so there is no real way to gain an edge with relying on a particular fighter, and losing a match may see one of your fighters fall into the hands of another player. Smash Tour is entertaining for a brief run, and more conceptually interesting than its Smash Run counterpart on the 3DS, but it’s not the sort of game mode most players will devote a great deal of time to.

For completionists who want to unlock every trophy, soundtrack tune, and optional character ability, Master Orders and Crazy Orders set players up with very specific rules in order to reap these rewards. Tickets in Master Orders can only be purchased with coins, and range from straightforward time and stock matches against a handful of low-to-mid-level CPU fighters, all the way on up to high launch power, double speed Smash matches wherein each combatant has but one life. Crazy Orders, meanwhile, takes this concept one step further, combining it with the gauntlet run sensibilities of All-Star mode, as players race the clock to see just how many matches they can fit into a ten-minute span. Tickets for taking on Crazy Orders can be racked up quite quickly in Classic mode, and once a run of Crazy Orders starts, players can select one of three matches to attempt, which become increasingly more challenging as the rounds progress. However, damage taken is carried over from one match to the next, with slight heals occurring automatically between each bout. With all these factors in mind, carefully planning your next move in Crazy Orders is crucial, and playing to the strengths of whichever character you selected is typically advised, though not always a guarantee to victory. When the timer is nearly at zero, the damage counter high enough that another battle seems ill-advised, or the challenge factors being offered less-than-ideal for a fighter, Crazy Hand can be challenged in a match where both parties begin with a predetermined amount of HP, and attempt to whittle each other down from there. The more Crazy Order challenges completed before facing Crazy Hand, the more difficult the match will be, with extra CPU fighters taking to the Final Destination stage and even Master Hand joining in the fight.

There are an abundance of unlockables in the forms of soundtrack tunes, trophies, and stat boosts for the Miis and custom fighters. While the quickest ways to gather these is through Classic and All-Star Modes, some can only be acquired by clearing spaces on the Challenges board, accessible from the main menu. By and large, the challenges in this new Smash Bros. are far more reasonable than those included in Brawl.

Mii fighters are divided into three categories – Gunner, Swordfighter, and Brawler, who – as their names imply – focus on close-quarters punch and kick combos, mid-range swipes of the blade, and distanced shots respectively. Attributing defense, offense, and speed-boosting stats to these Mii fighters, as well as customized versions of the remaining roster members, can drastically alter the way they control in battle, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Some of the stat boosts unlocked can even start players off with certain items at the beginning of a match, or grant slightly multiplied damage dealt to foes, though these sometimes include tradeoffs that mean a fighter may be slower in battle or start off with a predetermined amount of damage already taken to their HP counter. The movesets for Mario, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Samus, Captain Falcon, Fox, and so on can be swapped for new abilities, typically offering one option that carries out a faster but less damaging attack, while the other is a slower but heavier hit. It’s a great addition that makes battles less predictable, and allows a greater level of depth in the way players can strategize, without breaking the already solid balance between fighters.

Launching alongside this Wii U Smash Bros. are Nintendo’s collectible Amiibo figures, physical counterparts to the in-game characters. While only twelve were made available at the time of the game’s launch, they all operate in the same basic manner – they can be scanned via a chip that is help over the Gamepad controller, and brought into the game as CPU fighters. The difference between these Amiibo fighters and the traditional CPU fighters is that the Amiibos can be fed different stat boosting abilities, and will gradually learn better strategies for countering human players over time. Amiibos can easily rack up a large amount of experience points early on, while the progression slows as they ascend to higher levels. A low-level Amiibo is a relatively easy opponent to overcome, while an Amiibo at the max level of fifty can put up a serious challenge.

Plenty of classic and remixed tunes accompany each stage, while the graphical presentation is solid, though not nearly as impressive as other recent Wii U releases. From a distance, the textures on stages like Yoshi’s Woolly World and Xenoblade Chronicles' Guar Plain look decent enough, though pausing the game and zooming in for a closer peek reveals textures not nearly as polished as what other console exclusives have offered up. On the other hand, the lighting effects and colors in the Pikmin Garden of Hope, Mario Kart 8’s Mario Circuit, and the Kalos Pokémon League look more in line with the quality players would expect of a current-gen HD console, and these minor visual inconsistencies may be the result of this Smash Bros. being built off the same engine used for 2008’s Brawl. Slight oversights aside, this Wii U version is the most fun Super Smash Bros. has been in years, sweeping gimmicky elements aside in favor of deeper fighting mechanics and a superb roster.

My rating: 9.25 (out of 10)

Wii U review: Bayonetta 2

One of the most revered action titles of the last few years was Bayonetta, a combo-oriented game from the ex-Capcom employees at Platinum Games. With its emphasis on over-the-top demon summons, Witch Time dodge maneuvers, and an epic pseudo-religious mysticism persistent throughout, Bayonetta certainly left a strong impression with many die-hard fans of the genre. Fast-forward to 2014 and, in the most unlikely of pairings, Nintendo has partnered with Platinum to bring Bayonetta 2 to the Wii U as a console exclusive.

The first Bayonetta focused on the titular witch’s journey of self-discovery, and carried a generally darker aesthetic. This time around, Bayonetta has all of her memories intact, and as a result, has a personality that exudes confidence. Bayonetta enjoys using her magical abilities for the sake that she enjoys the position of power it puts her in over her enemies. She’s bold, unabashed, but not without a sense of right and wrong or the ability to convey compassion toward her friends and allies. Early in the sequel, Jeanne is dragged to Inferno, and as her best friend, Bayonetta is filled with determination to rescue her, even if it means facing the forces of Heaven and Hell alike. Pairing up with the young Loki, Bayonetta takes on something of a big sister role that is thoroughly entertaining – while she does not feel the need to play the part of mother hen to this magic-wielding youth, she often saves him from trouble, scolds him for referring to her as being older than she is, and teases him for his hot-headed behavior.

Visually, Bayonetta 2 is one of the best-looking games to come from the eight-generation consoles yet. While Platinum has frequently boasted impressive graphics and art styles with their games, Bayonetta 2 takes it one step further, with gorgeous lighting cascading off the water surrounding the city of Naotun and a dark haze setting the backdrop of the Musphelheim bonus challenge stages. The angels retain their white and gold color schemes, but have adopted distinct humanoid forms more befitting of their holy associations that the first game’s obsession with avian designs. The lesser demons of Hell, on the other hand, boast shiny metallic and stone textures, with more animalistic and alien features. Both carry weapons that can be picked up by Bayonetta for a one-time use in battle, and while typically offer a decent punch, they aren’t the sort of thing players ought to grow too attached to, as the primary weapons gathered throughout Bayonetta’s journey to Hell and back are the real important tools that will forge the witch’s path.

Ridiculous though they may be, there’s little else satisfying in such an unapologetic action game as skating around on chainsaw blades, break dancing while wildly firing pistols into the air, or hacking apart a circle of foes with the blades of a giant scythe. Bayonetta’s moveset can be expanded at Rodin’s bar, given that players have the necessary Halos. While Bayonetta 2 boasts a greater variety of offerings both offensively and defensively, players will have to do a fair amount of exploring and complete time-sensitive puzzles in order to boost both their magic and health gauges. The Musphelheim challenges are significantly less ludicrous than in the first game, though they are far from forgiving, and the same can be said of both the post-game Lost Chapters and gauntlet run-style multiplayer challenges. Bayonetta’s animal transformations are all made available early on, which lends the exploration angle to feel a more natural part of the whole package, and the environments incorporate some nicely hidden treasures in underwater areas or on outcroppings only accessible by taking flight as a crow.

Witch Time remains largely the same as in its predecessor, though enemy movements make it a bit easier to gauge just when you ought to dodge to initiate the limited slow-mo window to unleash an assault of attacks on foes. While this may sound as though the game is being too lenient with players, it’s quite the contrary – better camera angles and quicker response time from both Bayonetta’s attacks and dodges mean that the product as a whole controls even more smoothly than in the first outing, though the hits she does take from enemies will still whittle away decent chunks from her health bar. Torture attacks can still be used after charging up Bayonetta’s magic meter via successful combos, or can be used to fuel a number of successive powerful hits in the form of Umbran Climax, with will summon limited but notably heavier attacks from one of Bayonetta’s many demonic allies like Madama Butterfly or Malphas. The freedom to dispatch foes as you see fit makes the experience both more tactical and rewarding, as there are pros and cons to both options, and the ranking system for medals takes into account successive combos, the amount of damage sustained by Bayonetta, and the time taken to complete a phase.

Whereas some games would gradually prepare players for the most epic of boss fights, Bayonetta 2 throws you right into the thick of it, with insane clashes between goliath angel and demon summons, a surfing sequence up the side of a waterspout with the witch chasing down a higher angel, and an undersea magic missile shootout. Many of the gargantuan bosses are brought on by one mysterious Lumen Sage who is in pursuit of Loki, and who Bayonetta naturally clashes with on multiple occasions. As a successor to the handful of rival battles with Jeanne in the first game, the fights with the sage are lengthier and generally more interesting, as his spear staff forces him to rush the witch with fast slashes, while Bayonetta’s attacks are largely more ranged.

Many of the boss battle themes utilize choirs with dark and imposing voices to convey the sense of scale and urgency surrounding each of these encounters. Skirmishes with the common grunt enemies, on the other hand, are accompanied by jazzy pop numbers, with catchy vocals, the most noteworthy of the bunch being a new school take on “Moon River” and Bayonetta 2’s de facto theme song “Tomorrow is Mine”. Many of the game’s environments are decorated with Lumen and Umbran ruins, though bright blues, silvers, and golds prevail over the previous game’s darker color palettes.

Bayonetta 2 is a game that never really lets up on the gas, plowing full throttle toward the next explosive encounter. Even during the moments where you are allowed freedom of exploration, it never feels disjointed or sluggish, thanks in part to the optional enemy encounters and aforementioned Musphelheim challenges. But simply stopping for a moment to take in the majestic environments is worth a quick break in the action to admire the masterful attention to detail in the foreground and myriad of structures rendered in the background. These elements, while not necessary to make or break the experience, add just a bit more polish to the final product and chalk up a greater degree of respect and appreciation to the development team.

Throughout the main story, players will discover many journal entries penned by Luka. Some will be laid directly in Bayonetta’s path, practically impossible to miss, while others will be hidden in clever nooks and crannies like some of the treasures. Each entry offers details on Umbran magic, the history of the clans, the Eyes of the World, and so forth, adding an extra degree of depth to the culture and belief system of this fictional realm. As players trek through the main game, they will also unlock models of characters and enemies accessible in a viewing gallery. While Bayonetta 2 carries on from its predecessor with the ability to unlock extra costumes, the partnership between Nintendo and Platinum has a few extra treats to offer in the form of costumes that pay tribute to Princess Peach, Daisy, Fox McCloud, Samus, and Link. Each costume also adds slight twists to the otherwise familiar combat, such as Bowser’s fists and feet replacing those of Madama Butterfly, and the ability to roll around in Morphball mode.

Ingredients collected from the game’s many locales can be used to create lollipops that replenish health and magic, as well as grant Bayonetta temporary defensive and offensive boosts. But players who pay attention to the signals in combat and take the time to perfect their timing with dodges and counters will find they rarely need turn to these items. Bayonetta 2 is about as perfect an action game as anyone could ask for, with fluid design throughout, and a protagonist that is as much about flash and flair as she is about commanding every second she is on screen. The mysticism of Bayonetta’s world is akin to the lore of series like The Legend of Zelda, while the gameplay is a distinct upgrade from its Devil May Cry roots. Bayonetta 2 sets a new standard for action games, and is easily one of the best games currently available on eighth generation consoles.

My rating: 9.75 (out of 10)

DLC review: Mario Kart 8 - The Legend of Zelda X Mario Kart 8

This first of two DLC packs for Mario Kart 8 is quite generous, boasting two new Grand Prix cups with four tracks each, four new vehicles, three new racers, and a few additional customization options for your rides. While Tanooki Suit Mario and Cat Suit Peach are quick re-skins of pre-existing characters, the real treat is Link, hero of Hyrule, this time donning his look from Skyward Sword. This more heavily stylized design blends well with the Mushroom Kingdom gang’s cartoony appearances and reacts well to the bright lighting and colorful backdrops of many of Mario Kart 8’s locales. Link and all the other racers can take to the track in the Tanooki Kart, the B-Dasher from Mario Kart DS, the Blue Falcon of F-Zero fame, or a horse-shaped bike known as the Master Cycle.

Of the two new cups, the Egg Cup is arguably the more exciting overall, with three brand new courses and one reimagined version of the Yoshi Circuit from Double Dash!! The three new courses include Dragon Driftway, a windy course with a heavy Chinese festival aesthetic, and two courses that pay homage to Excitebike and F-Zero respectively. The Excitebike Arena, while a relatively uncomplicated series of jumps, presents a looped course that is certainly more interesting than similarly-shaped tracks of yesteryear like Baby Park. Mute City, meanwhile, is the real treat, as it utilizes the anti-gravity sections more fully than most any other track in MK8 yet. The abundance of boost pads and tight, winding turns makes this feel the part of a real F-Zero course, not to be outdone by the shiny metallic textures than cover every structure in the background.

The Triforce cup offers retreads of Wario’s Gold Mine from Mario Kart Wii and yet another variant of Rainbow Road, this time from the SNES days. Wario’s Gold Mine was hardly ever one of the strongest showings in Mario Kart Wii, while Rainbow Road’s layout is incredibly simple, as is the case with nearly every SNES Mario Kart course. While it was interesting to see how vastly different the MK8 Rainbow Road was from its reimagined N64 counterpart, this course has now been overdone in MK8, despite how mesmerizing the sparkly colors and glossy texture of the track might be. Ice Ice Outpost, one of the Triforce Cup’s new courses, splits paths multiple times as players race up, around, and through an arctic facility. The real gem of this cup, however, is the Hyrule Circuit, a somewhat shorter course that zips through Hyrule Castle and its nearby town and field, replacing coins with Rupees and Piranha Plants with Deku Babas.

While the quality of the two cups may not be consistent, they do provide a nice variety of lengths in their courses and a different set of challenges in the layouts of each. At the end of the day, the standouts are really the new race tracks, and while I do imagine there will still be at least a couple of retro courses in the second DLC pack come Spring, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Nintendo focuses their efforts primarily on providing more impressive new environments. Eight new tracks for less than $10 is a solid bargain on its own, but the fact that this pack includes the aforementioned characters and karts as well makes the whole package one sweet deal for anyone looking to extend their play experience with Mario Kart 8.

My rating: 8 (out of 10)*

*(rating applies solely to downloadable content, not its inclusion with the content on the original game disc or other downloadable content)

Wii U review: Hyrule Warriors

One of the more out-of-the-blue crossover announcements in recent E3 history was that of Hyrule Warriors, a Zelda-themed hack-and-slash in the vein of Dynasty Warriors and similarly developed by Koei Tecmo. As the game neared release, Nintendo began to trickle forth information about the various gameplay modes and playable characters, from the more famous Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess allies to some of the series iconic villains. But it was never any secret that Hyrule Warriors would play more like a Dynasty Warriors title than any Zelda title – so the real question is, just how much like DW is the final product?

In truth, the answer is both a bit lengthy and complicated. At its core, the gameplay leans extremely heavily toward the Dynasty Warriors camp. Combos of Link’s swordslashing, Darunia’s hammer swings, and Fi’s graceful dancing are your primary means of cutting through a sea of enemies in order to capture bases and increase not only your army’s troop output, but their morale as well. Troops with a higher morale will perform better in battle, more offensively and defensively, and achieving this within a mission can leave you with a greater confidence that your CPU followers will have little trouble holding down the fort against enemy invaders while you scour the many sprawling maps for bonus materials or extra content hidden with Gold Skulltulas.

Striking down enough foes will fill up your special attack meter, which can then be unleashed against more of the ever-spawning Bokoblin, Moblin, or Stalchild forces to wipe out a great number of foes in one fell swoop. These special attacks can be great for speeding up the capture process when attempting to take over an enemy base. Each character also has a magic meter that, when full, can be activated in order to slow time for a brief period to inflict major damage to specialty troops and captains, as well as other CPU controlled characters. Since the magic meter is filled up with magic jars as per Legend of Zelda tradition, you will have to collect these from smashing jars within bases or hoping enemies drop them upon defeat. Magic jars are, however, one of the most rare drop items from enemies, so do not expect to reap the rewards of a full magic meter more than once or twice on most missions.

Also drawn from the Zelda franchise are the secondary weapons like the bow, bombs, boomerang, and hookshot, all of which can be used by any of the playable warriors, and all of which have surprisingly practical uses. The bow is reserved exclusively for ranged shots against poisonous Deku Babas and certain boss fights, while bombs can be used to thin out troops as well as discover secrets hidden behind cracked walls. The hookshot can give Link and company a shortcut to higher ground, or can be used to wrestle airborne foes to the ground, and the boomerang can be used to dizzy multiple foes with each toss. Each of these secondary weapons can receive temporary boosts in power and range thanks to another kind of item drop, which will indicate which item is to be granted the power boost before you grab it.

Speaking of boss fights, Hyrule Warriors features showdowns with classic monsters like Ghoma, King Dodongo, and Manhandla, all of which handle very similarly to their 2D and 3D incarnations in past Zelda adventures. While boss encounters are not present in each and every stage, they are certainly the highlights of the missions they are worked into. Specialty enemies like the Gibdo, Aeralfos, and Poes will still take damage from most any weapon, though each is considerably weaker to a different weapon in particular. When weakened, these enemies will momentarily display a defense meter above their heads – hit the meter enough times, and their defense will be broken, giving you a golden opportunity to inflict lot of damage, sometimes finishing them off altogether.

Upgrading character skills like health and attack damage results from the particular items you gain from fallen enemies. Meanwhile, weapons can be combined to carry over bonuses like increased damage from a particular combo or a health buffer to a weapon with a higher power and star rating (effectively the same weapon ranking system as in traditional Dynasty Warriors games). Most characters have a second or even third weapon that can be discovered along their journey through Hyrule, as well as a final, more powerful form of each of these weapons that can hold three different upgrades as opposed to just one. Different potions can be brewed to grant brief power boosts both offensively and defensively, though the most practical to carry in to battle will likely always be that which restores the majority of your character’s health. These can prove especially useful if you find yourself pinned in a corner and subsequently the victim of an onslaught of combo attacks from one of the enemy warriors.

While the plotlines of any given Zelda game have drawn heavy influence from European and western fantasy works, their tales have been largely universal, not identifying strictly with one culture or another. Frankly, it’s an approach that likely largely explains why the series has been so universally well-received for more than twenty-five years. The story mode of Hyrule Warriors does account for the divergent timelines of official Zelda lore, but falls outside of the canon, and is admitedlly simple in its aims. According to this spinoff game, there were forces capable of witnessing all versions of the tale of Link, Zelda, and the Triforce, but they were never meant to interfere in any way. When curiosity leads Cia, a mystic woman of this clan, to contemplate what it is that makes Link such a great and courageous hero, dark forces kept long at bay begin to take hold of her, influencing her ultimate decision to travel to the land of Hyrule and amass an army capable of challenging the kingdom.

Enter Zelda and Impa, who turn to Hyrule’s army and one blond swordsman in particular to defend the castle and surrounding fields. As the fighting escalates and both sides hatch plans to try and trump one another, the trio encounters Lana, a girl from the same clan as Cia, but who would seek to aid the warriors in attempting to halt Cia’s advance across Hyrule and convince her to return to her old ways. As Cia utilizes the Gate of Souls to draw power from many alternate versions of Hyrule, so too do Lana, Impa, and Link seek out the aid of Darunia, Midna, Fi, and other veteran Zelda characters. But while all this attacking, defending, and countering is occurring, other malevolent forces lie in wait.

Challenge mode throws players into singular scenarios with one main goal in mind before the end of the mission, but keeps things interesting by throwing new and unexpected minor challenges as things progress. More time-consuming is the adventure mode, which asks players to complete a series of specific challenges with certain restrictions in place, including time a ten minute time limit to defeat five-hundred enemies, a battle against some of the game’s stronger foes where all attacks (yours included) deal massive damage, and quiz games that will test players’ knowledge of enemy weaknesses. Adventure mode’s overworld map pays homage to the original NES Legend of Zelda, and players will collect candles, bombs, compasses, rafts, and more as they earn higher rankings on these various challenges, all of which can subsequently be used to uncover health upgrades for your unlocked warriors, as well as few of the playable characters.

With regards to these playable characters, the game draws twelve faces from across the Zelda series and introduces one newcomer in the form of Lana. Each of these warriors has a unique play style that utilizes similar button combos with greatly varying results. Midna can summon a fist from her helmet and hurl foes wildly about, Shiek can create a small damaging circle by playing the harp, and Ruto flips back and forth through pools of water that manifest in the most unlikely of locations. Despite the roster not being nearly as large as in most Dynasty Warriors games, Hyrule Warriors does well to cater to a variety of combat strategies while offering well-balanced offensive and defensive capabilities to each character. The creativity drawn from Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and more is a wonderful way of catering to die-hard Zelda fans, though Lana’s moveset is a bit lackluster in its flash and flair when compared to nearly any other one of these iconic warriors.

Most of the playable characters look very similar to their original designs. Ghirahim retains a semi-cel-shaded overlay, Zant and Midna are bear more stark color patterns and intricate details, while Darunia and Ruto’s character models are the most simplistic of the bunch, as they hail from an older 3D era. Link, Impa, Zelda, and Ganondorf, meanwhile, all wear outfits that act as crossing points between Zelda and Dynasty Warriors - Link’s green tunic is subtly accented by a blue scarf, Zelda’s armor and dress a hybrid between her 2D and more recent appearances, and Impa’s clothing largely inspired by her counterpart in Skyward Sword, though appearing to hold some influence from Ocarina of Time as well. Ganondorf’s design, however, proves the most polarizing, as his long red hair, angular armor pieces, golden crown-like headpiece, and large jagged swords imply a more distinct eastern influence – somewhere between feudal Japan and Mongolian horde.

Hyrule Warriors also pays homage to its roots by incorporating many classic Zelda tunes infused with rock riffs and dark electronic sounds. While artistically the game may not be representative of the next proper installment in the Zelda franchise, seeing the land of Hyrule and all its denizens in full HD is most pleasing to the eyes. Hyrule Warriors hits a couple of snags in its design, largely resulting from the save system and respawn locations. It is possible to drop a save spot at any given time during a mission, though this is one of the few pointers the tutorial segments do not take time to explain, and given the generally fast-paced nature of any mission, it’s a feature that can effectively go ignored for an entire playthrough. Each time you complete an in-mission objective, however, the game automatically sets a checkpoint for you, which is typically quite convenient, save for instances when the game respawns you in front of an enemy warrior or boss character who spams you with combos that result in a death as sudden as your return to the fight. Hyrule Warriors is by no means a perfect game, not the most extensive one, but it does emphasize heavy arcade-style hack-and-slash design that delivers mindless fun without losing its identity as a proper crossover.

My rating: 8.25 (out of 10)